Coffee plantation to boost eco-tourism in india

$\"\"$ Cuisine tourism is not new, but coffee plantation tours which are getting popular in certain destinations in India can now become a significant inclusion in India\’s eco-tourism roadmap. For example, the coffee capital of India – Chikmagalur, which is 250 kilometres from Bengaluru and boasts of many coffee plantations, could be seen as a destination seriously providing a two-pronged strategy product; one, in terms of tourism potential and the other from an ecological point of view.

The fact is Indian coffee is primarily raised in shade in order to harvest best quality coffee beans. Thus, the plantations help in preserving vast number of tall trees to provide shade for coffee shrubs, enabling a better ecology to prevail in the entire area. Compared to this, in countries in the West, coffee plantations are raised under direct sunlight for gaining higher yield, sacrificing the quality. Dr Pradeep Kenjige, head – Research & Development, Coffee Day, part of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company (ABCTC), believes that the conventional format of coffee growing in India should be preserved and encouraged at any cost. In a conversation with Express TravelWorld, he articulated, \”There was a time in India earlier when tea shrubs were being grown in shade. Eventually, for a higher yield, that format was done away with and trees fell down as tea production increased under direct sunlight. This forced complete deforestation. The same is creeping into the coffee business, which should be examined critically and adverse steps need to be taken to avoid any deforestation.\”